


Not Quite Truth

by Altman



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Also you can pry the hc that Maxine and Mako got along like a house on fire from my cold dead hands, I just... have a lot of feeling about these two okay?, Kissing, Other, PDA, Spoilers for the Mission to the September Institute arc of COUNTER/Weight, They would have pulled the most devastating pranks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-29 23:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12096096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altman/pseuds/Altman
Summary: It's been over a year since September fell, and the Chime lost one of their own.As Cass prepares to return to being Cassander, they consider an important question while doing maintenance on the Megalophile: 'Who is Maxine Ming to me?'Or: Cass confronts the fact that they aren't very good at dealing with feelings, and that things are never quite black and white.





	Not Quite Truth

_Who is Maxine Ming?_

_No_ , they decide, _that’s too broad, too unfocused._ Maxine is someone who prides herself on confounding questions like that. She’d laugh if they ever voiced it, probably counter with something like, ‘Well, who are you, ‘sandy? Who is anyone, really?’

Then maybe…

_Who is Maxine Ming to me?_

Cassander has been asking themself that question a lot recently. They’re no closer to an answer, even after over a year since the escape from September.

Cassander Timaeus Bernice, of the House Pelagios, is not yet the Apokine, though their ways of running from that looming responsibility are running out.

_Mako would be at least a little proud of that one,_ Cass thinks, chuckling for a moment, until they realize just how long it has been since they’ve seen the Chime.

Since they’ve seen their family. Their real family, bound not by blood or politics, but by virtue of the fact that they were all broken in strange ways that somehow fit together.

As Aria would have said, the four of them were like cracked bells that sang discordantly alone, but _chimed_ gloriously as one.

_Oh, please. As if we were ever glorious._ He snorts, thinking of tarps, injuries, plans that came together and went awry, failures, successes, and then, inevitably, the provisional victory tallied at the cost of one of their own.

_AuDy_.

They push down a sob, shaking their head. There hasn’t been enough time to fully confront that pain, and today still isn’t the day for it.

Their sadness must have shown on their face, because there’s suddenly a comforting hand on their shoulder, and then a familiar presence taking up space beside them, joining them where they sit, backs against the hanger wall.

“Hey, Burnie, you good?” Maxine asks, concern audible only beneath a layer of nonchalance.

One they’re used to peeling away, after all their time together at September. One they’re still not used to hearing, because their time at September was a lie, or at least… not quite truth.

They sigh at the use of their least favourite nickname -though they don’t mind it too much from her-, lips quirking into a smirk, “I never shoulda told you my full name.”

“Yeah, well, you’re the one who wrote it out on the IOU.” She shoots back, eyes brighter than they should be this late at night.

Morning?

_Time in space is weird, especially in transit between planets._

“Hey, you didn’t have to buy me that slice!” They reply, feigning indignity.

The two laugh, remembering memories that aren’t memories, the (first, but far from only) time Mako had hijacked Cass’s student account for one of Lazer Ted’s schemes, leaving them with no money to pay for pizza. Maxine had graciously picked up the tab, in exchange for some help with her biology classes and a promise they’d owe her one.

“Is that so? You looked so awkward, just standing there, I couldn’t _not_ help you.”

“And I am eternally in your debt, seeing as you never let me pay the damn thing back.”

At some point, shoulders still touching, leaning on each other, their fingers intertwine, and both of them enjoy that fact far too much to mention it.

Conversation continues in that vein, and it’s not until Maxine pauses in the middle of a story, that they realize they’ve been staring, studying the way her hair frames her face, her tongue occasionally brushes her lips, how the edges of her eyes crinkle when she laughs, her nose scrunching up slightly.

It’s not until Cassander is irrevocably lost in her eyes, that they realize they were falling in the first place.

The hanger of the ship is suddenly quiet, the atmosphere filled with something they can’t place.

Cassander is wearing their favourite jacket over a simple flightsuit. She’s wearing a black tank top that shows off her shoulders, and cargo pants, with a pair of gaudy sneakers Mako definitely loaned her, back when they all still talked regularly.

They’re both exhausted, disheveled from the trip and already tired from the diplomatic events that will come after, but Cass suddenly feels more awake than ever.

There is a blush on her cheeks as she turns, breaking contact with his shoulder -but still holding their hand, something they’re incredibly grateful for- and tilting her head to one side.

“Cassander?” She asks, something in her tone sending a shiver up their spine.

Their response is measured, low voice courtesy of their suddenly dry throat, “Yes, Maxine?”

If they hadn’t been paying attention, they might have missed her next question, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Can you just kiss me already?”

They didn’t know that they had been waiting for an invitation until one was offered.

The first kiss is awkward; really, it’s less of a kiss than two pairs of lips getting inelegantly smashed together, because Cass leaned forward at the same time she did, and neither of them quite knew which way to tilt their heads.

But it’s nice, to say the least, and they know there are much better words than ‘nice’, but before they can start considering them, Maxine has grabbed their jacket with her free hand and pulled them close.

The second time around, things go much smoother.

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I wanted to write because I'm still not over the COUNTER/Weight finale.  
> Might turn this into a series, depends on how busy I get.
> 
> As always, reviews and feedback are appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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